1. Field of the Invention
The current invention relates to the farming of natural bodies of water, and in particular sea water, to obtain commercially-useful quantities of materials that may be used as feedstocks in agriculture and as raw materials in other industries. The invention also relates to removing pollutants from natural and wastewater bodies of water.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 represents an older model of the oceanic food web. According to this older model, sunlight-induced photosynthetic activity supports the growth of phytoplankton, which serves as a food for zooplankton. Higher-order animals such as fish (higher organic carbon: HOC) in turn feed on the zooplankton, and the food web is completed. Products secreted by plankton and produced by the decay of dead plankton contribute to the presence in the water of detritus and dissolved organic material traced as dissolved organic carbon (DOC).
In the early 1960's, it was discovered that an alternate form of productivity occurs at the foundations of the oceanic food web. In addition to the older model of FIG. 1, there is a recycled use of DOC. According to this model as illustrated in FIG. 2, waves produce turbulence and resulting bubbles. At the surfaces of the bubbles, the dissolved organic material agglomerates to form particles (referred to as particulated organic carbon, hereunder, POC). The particles of POC, consisting of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals, serve as an alternate food source in the oceanic food web. This model was suggested by Riley in 1963 (Limnology and Oceanography, 8: 372-381).
As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the particulation process was experimentally shown to sustain life in the laboratory as early as 1963. Baylor and Sutcliffe demonstrated that particulate foam containing POC could be produced in the laboratory by bubbling air through filtered sea water. The particulate foam thus produced could be used as a source of food for brine shrimp, which grew as shown in FIG. 4 (Limnology and Oceanography 8: 369-371).